CPD IN THE NEWS

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Tuesday committed to increasing diversity at the central bank, particularly within the Fed’s leadership ranks.

“It’s something we will continue to focus on,” Yellen said during the question-and-answer period of her semiannual testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. “Diversity is an extremely important goal, and I will do everything I can to advance it.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) asked Yellen to commit to increasing diversity among the bank’s top officials, noting that 10 of the 12 Fed’s regional presidents are men. “Does the lack of diversity among the regional Fed presidents concern you?” Warren asked Yellen.

“Yes, I believe it’s important to have a diverse group of policymakers who can bring different perspectives to bear,” Yellen responded, adding that the central bank monitors hiring searches closely to make sure regional banks recruit diverse candidates.

Warren said she trusted Yellen’s commitment, but that her response shows the Fed’s selection process for regional leaders is “broken” and lacks transparency.

“You’re telling me diversity’s important, and yet you just signed off on all these folks without any public discussion about it,” Warren said. “Congress should take a hard look at reforming the regional Fed selection process so that we can all benefit from a Fed leadership that reflects a broader array of backgrounds and interests.”

Warren and other lawmakers — 116 House members and 10 senators — signed a letter to Yellen last month that urged her to fill the bank’s top echelon with more diverse leaders. Yellen responded to the letter last week affirming the need for more diversity, according to Warren.

On Monday, activists for the “Fed Up” campaign pushed for diversity in the Fed’s regional branches in a report published by the left-leaning Center for Popular Democracy.

“It’s not enough to say, ‘I’m committed to diversity,'” Dushaw Hockett, executive director of Safe Places for the Advancement of Community and Equity, another group advocating for the Fed Up campaign, said in an interview after today’s hearing. “What’s the plan? What are the mechanisms for how we get there, and how are we going to evaluate whether we’ve achieved them?”

The emphasis on diversity comes on the heels of a Government Accountability Office report showing pervasive issues with racial and gender discrimination among rank-and-file employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where 25 percent of Asian employees, 25 percent of female employees and 27 percent of black employees said they have experienced discrimination at the agency.

By Tara Jeffries

Source

As we grieve and struggle to process the magnitude of the destruction and loss of life from Puerto Rico to Las Vegas, we are not helpless. There are specific public policies that led us to where we are today, policies that we can fight to change. In The Nation’s Take Action Now newsletter this week, we focuses on how to make that happen.

Read the full article here.

A group of Minnesota lawmakers will focus on closing racial disparities in the state.

Sen. Jeff Hayden and Sen. Bobby Joe Champion will co-chair the new Subcommittee on Equity (which is part of the larger Finance Committee), according to a news release.

There are 15 lawmakers on the new subcommittee (nine DFLers, six Republicans) – you can see a full roster here. The subcommittee’s schedule will be posted here, though right now there are no meetings listed for the next two months.

The Senate DFL Caucus appointed the members, who will look to “address the complex and multifaceted challenges of racial and economic disparities,” according to a message from Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk’s office.

Racial disparities in Minnesota

There are serious problems when it comes to racial disparities in the state.

Unemployment among the black community in Minnesota continued to rise last year despite the decreasing unemployment rates for Hispanic and white people, according to the Department of Employment and Economic Development.

State numbers released last fall showed the average income of Minnesota’s African-Americans is falling and is now less than half of what white residents are making, with more than one-third of black households living in poverty.

Minnesota has the third-highest unemployment gap between white and black people in the country – with the jobless rate among blacks almost 3.7 times higher than among whites, according to a study released last year by the Center for Popular Democracy.

Financial site WalletHub ranked Minnesota as the worst state in the U.S. when it comes to racial integration, saying it has some of the highest racial gaps when it comes to median annual income, homeownership, the poverty rate and more.

All this (and more) led lawmakers to consider addressing racial inequity in a possible special session – but during talks, Gov. Mark Dayton noted there was “significant disagreement” between lawmakers on how to address the problem. And then the special session didn’t happen anyway. So if something gets done, it could be in the current Legislative session.

Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposed budget includes $100 million to address racial disparities in the state, by expanding workforce programs, helping college completion and increasing home ownership among minorities, the Pioneer Press reported.

By Shaymus McLaughlin

Source

“But diversity within the Federal Reserve’s regional banks hardly measures up, according to a new report compiled by Fed Up, a campaign of the Center for Popular Democracy, a left-leaning advocacy group. The report highlights the lag in gender, racial and occupational diversity among the presidents and boards of directors of the regional reserve banks. Researchers say this serves to further isolate already marginalized groups such as women and communities of color from monetary policy.”

Read the full article here.